FOX Eyes Saturday Night Sketch Comedy With The Lonely Island

Welp, with MadTV old enough to celebrate a 20-year anniversary (and otherwise off the air to boot), it was only a matter of time SNL found itself with a little Saturday night competition. Still - gasp! - former SNL dream team The Lonely Island will lead the charge of FOX’s new sketch comedy rival, Party Over Here.

According to TVLine, FOX has officially greenlit the half-hour Party Over Here, as produced by The Lonely Island comedy trio of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, along with comedian Paul Scheer. Starring in the new series will be Girl Code alum Nicole Byer, SNL writer Alison Rich and newcomer Jessica McKenna, with the content covering culture and politics through short sketches and studio segments with a live audience present.

Said The Lonely Island:

When we first conceived this idea, we thought of it as a spinoff of Empire. We failed miserably… now it’s much more of a sketch comedy show.

Added FOX itself:

The late-night landscape is wildly competitive, and we thought long and hard about the kind of audacious, attention-getting voices we needed. Andy, Akiva, Jorma, Paul and our three stars — Nicole, Jessica and Alison — are the ideal group of talent to do just that. They’re fearless, original and, of course, very, very funny.

Party Over Here will premiere as early as Saturday, March 12, in the 11:00 PM timeslot on FOX, but does SNL have any real competition? What would Lorne Michaels say to his former golden geese?